Smalltown DJs bring Mountain Magic to town

The Calgary duo performs at the Garibaldi Lift Company as part of tour

GoalTending Calgary's Smalltown DJs have been performing together for 18 years.

Pete Emes and Mike Grimes of Calgary's Smalltown DJs have been performing together for 18 years.

"We've both been DJing over 20 years. Time flies, it's crazy. I can't believe it," Emes says.

"This past weekend we have four awesome sold-out shows in a row, in Banff, Fernie, Kelowna and Nelson. It was an epic four days. It keeps it so fresh for us. Time flies when you're having a good time."

They're performing at every resort they can get their decks to with their Mountain Magic Tour, as they have been doing for the past five years.

"We ask producers and buddies who like to hit the hills to join us. We get them together and it's a group bill. They try to make it an affordable ticket so the kids from the ski towns will come," Emes adds.

"Everyone takes a bit of a paycut because it's so much fun."

It has been a great recipe for them, he adds.

Smalltown DJs' latest single "Erase the Night," featuring Lisa Lobsinger of Broken Social Scene, was released on Tuesday, March 14.

"It's basically like a slowed down electronic, beat-driven-type tune. Lisa has a phenomenal vocal part in the song, so we're excited," Emes says.

"It's being put out by Fool's Gold out of Brooklyn and their last track had, like, a million views or lists on SoundCloud."

Like many DJs, the duo releases a steady stream of singles. Is it heavy going to keep feeding the electronic-dance-music leviathan?

"It is a hustle," agrees Emes. "But it's all stuff that we enjoy. For us, our job is to work on our music and when it's done, try to land it with the best possible label, and then play only the shows that we really want to play.

"For 10 years, we would play any show we could, now we're more selective. It's a grind but an enjoyable one."

They try to make it to Whistler twice a year.

"Once in the winter and once in the summer. We've got people we consider family there; it was one of the first places we played way back when. We love coming there," Emes says.

"Couple that with the snowboarding and that makes for a really great trip."

Emes says the Smalltown DJs try not to play in the same market too often because they don't want to burn themselves out.

Smalltown DJs performs at the Garibaldi Lift Company on Saturday, March 18. They are bringing Justin Martin and Christian Martin to open. The show is sold out.

"Justin has been part of the Mountain Magic tour since the first year and he's just put out a big remix album. People are really excited about his latest releases. We're stoked to have him and tried to get him on as many shows as we could," Emes says.